<p>"Do people get that same kind of money in Ibanks in, say, Houston? Because that would go a lot further in Houston. "
Short answer: Yes. But this is only true at the entry to mid level. There is a glass ceiling at the very top in a regional market.</p>
<p>I agree with the others – live with 1-2 roommates, don’t live in Manhattan (live in the other boroughs or New Jersey), cook your own breakfasts and/or dinners. </p>
<p>People commute to NYC all the time.</p>
<p>I am from the NYC area and have young professional relatives that work in NYC:</p>
<p>1) Check out Hoboken, Jersey City so much mass transit all over north Jersey to take advantage of
2) Roomates
3) Brown bag for lunch
4) Learn to live with less…like the rest of us did back in the day</p>
<p>Don’t give up living in the city; it is the New York experience for single, new grads. Get a roommate or two if need be. Roommates are good to start with for a social base. One of my biggest regrets in life is never having the NY experience. (I am an atty in CA but worked for NY firms so at least I got many trips and a few extended stays. It is still my favorite place to visit. Well, OK, second to Florence and Paris.)</p>
<p>Awesome thread…great question. They don’t live on their salary in New York. They have roomates(get married with a wife that works), go into debt, and take money from their parents.</p>
<p>I did the latter two when I had a job as an engineer before this…yea…real life sucks. Don’t count on that 30k to 50k bonus every year…maybe you get it the first year, but investment bankers will do really well one year and then they won’t do so well the next year…at least that’s what I’ve read in nytimes and Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>Well, let’s see. I’ve lived the majority of my life on a salary half that with a three person family. Never really went without, so it’s possible. </p>
<p>Oh, and, MOST people don’t live in NYC. That’s a choice you make. If you don’t want to live that lifestyle, don’t move there and quit complaining.</p>
<p>Salvation army for clothes, don’t drink, buy your food in bulk if you can, don’t eat out- like EVER. YOU make the choice to buy food every day. That is a BAD choice so don’t expect sympathy. NOBODY needs $1000 for food every month.</p>
<p>I agree with the food comments. It’s definitely hard though to not make the move to live in manhattan when you’re right out of college.</p>
<p>To shed a little optimism, there’s a chance bonus numbers improve by the time we’re working full time, pending the state of the market and the strength of the economic recovery at that time. I’m not exactly sure how the bonus structure works for trading/research, but you seemed to mention similar numbers to what banking bonuses were this past year. In 2009, 1st tier Analysts brought in about 40-50k, 2nd tier got 30-40k, and 3rd tier got anywhere from almost nothing to 20-30k. In 2008, 1st tier Analyst got about 65k, 2nd tier got 50-55k, and 3rd tier dropped an additional 10-15k after that. In 2007 bonuses had peaked: Analysts were raking in about 90k in BONUS. (Nb: These are all 1st year Investment Banking Analyst levels. 2nd and 3rd year Analysts rake in anywhere from 15-25k higher at each tier. Tiers are based on how well an Analyst was ranked by his MD for his overall performance during the year to which bonuses were attributed.) If we’re lucky, bonuses will hopefully have returned to at least 2008 levels by the time we graduate, and if we’re REALLY lucky, could move beyond '08 levels towards '09 levels. Once again, these numbers are for investment banking, where bonus level is linked directly to a bank’s performance in the underwriting/M&A/restructuring market/etc., as well as general market performance overall. Not sure how trading/research bonuses compare, or exactly on what they’re dependent. </p>
<p>What Main Street is really angry about is compensation at the top of the firm, so bonuses of lowly Analysts really shouldn’t be affected by public opinion pressure, it should be by market performance. </p>
<p>So, optimistically, I’m hoping all inclusive compensation will be higher than 120k by the time we’re working full time. Hopefully closer to 140k. For banking.</p>
<p>What you eat at interview lunches has no bearing on what you’d spend on your own. And groceries are not that expensive. And what on earth are you planning to do with transportation? Most people I know gave up their cars in NYC at this stage. And why $2k for rent? The take home pay is about right, given my experience.</p>
<p>$2k for rent is also probably a bit high, but I definitely think transportation is off, but only assuming all you use is the subway. If you’re taking the subway to and from work each day, you’re spending $4.50 per day. Multiply that by approximately 23 work days per month (it’s more in banking), you’re spending $103.5 to get to work. You probably won’t be spending twice that number per month for transportation to and from places that aren’t work. Then again, if you’re taking cabs here and there you might get up to around 300/mo.</p>
<p>This is why I’m encouraging my soon to graduate kid to consider launching his career in a non-coastal less expensive zone of the country.</p>
<p>The bonus percentage seems very high for a college hire, btw.</p>
<p>Yea, they seem high because the job is a huge outlier that only a small percentage of college graduates are able to land. But the bonus numbers are accurate.</p>
<p>My job starts at 6 sharp every day because traders come in at 630 and could last till 11pm(quants have to be involved in the structuring process which could mean staying very late compared to the typical
S&T analyst).So I kind of have to live at least close to midtown or I won’t be able to sleep much at all, which explains the 2000 rent.</p>
<p>Bonus numbers are right. The class that started this past august just received 20k stub for 4 months work which equate to 60k annually</p>
<p>^What was your major?</p>
<p>Incase he doesn’t answer, he was IOE with econ minor (he posted it in a previous thread).</p>
<p>You’re getting pwned in the duplicate thread you posted in the internship forum lol</p>
<p>so employers don’t put a lot more emphasis on ross business school grads than michigan engineering grads? My friends at U of M tell me that econ and IOE majors are considered the people who couldn’t get into ross.</p>
<p>They DO put a S*** TON more emphasis on Ross students than on anyone who isn’t in Ross. But, it’s possible to land finance jobs if you’re not in Ross. It’s just significantly harder because banks aren’t plopped on your doorstep. Not all econ and (many fewer) IOE majors are just Ross rejects. Bearcats is IOE and I don’t believe he shot for Ross. I’m an econ (and math) major and I didn’t apply to Ross. Yes, many econ and some IOE majors are people who couldn’t get into Ross, but there are also many econ and many more IOE majors that chose that path because they liked the subject matter better/believe the degree would be more rewarding. The latter crew consists of many intelligent/qualified people who decide they want to go into finance, but because of not being in Ross must often put in much more work just to get recognized.</p>
<p>i was a ross preadmit</p>
<p>Wow didn’t know that. Not wow you were a preadmit, wow you opted for engineering instead. Smart move (not that I have to tell you that). I’m glad I didn’t do business undergrad. Such a waste of an education (albeit sick nasty recruiting).</p>